Many streams in southern Minnesota lack the required 16.5- to 50-foot natural buffer strip required by state law. The buffers are intended to protect water from farm runoff. (Pioneer Press: Dave Orrick)

The Minnesota Legislature is close to cleaning up misunderstandings in a law meant to clean up the state’s water.

Senators on Thursday passed legislation 61-0 making it clear that vegetative buffers will not be required along private ditches. The measure also clears up other issues that raised questions about the nearly year-old buffer law, many coming from farmers who did not know what they would be required to do to meet the law.

The House is expected to pass the bill next week and Gov. Mark Dayton could sign it into law soon.

The bill gives counties and local water districts first shot at regulating the state buffer law, but the state Board of Soil and Water Resources would be in charge when local governments do not want to take it on.

Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, said the program will run more smoothly if local governments manage it. He told fellow senators they should encourage county commissioners to opt to run the program.

Skoe’s legislation clarified what water landowners will be required to protect with vegetative buffers, or other methods effective at keeping pollution out of water.

The buffer law will have different impacts on different parts of the state.

“I think the Minnesota River Valley is going to be the most impacted area of the state,” Skoe said.

In his northwestern Minnesota district, he said, the Department of Natural Resources has taken action to require buffers under old laws.

“A lot of these areas of the state … are already buffered.”

Lakeshore home property falls under other laws that require vegetation near the water.

The issue buffers are meant to fix mostly is found in places like near the Minnesota River, where large fields are tilled and chemicals used to grow crops run into nearby water. Dayton pushed buffer strips as the best way to filter the water to eliminate pollution that has caused many southwestern Minnesota waters, especially, to become undrinkable and unsafe for fish.

Dayton said he would like buffers along all water, but agreed to not require them along private ditches. The Skoe bill and one like it by Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, make it clear private ditches do not need buffers. The private ditch question raised some of the hottest questions.

“One would not have thought that such a noble idea … could create so much controversy,” Skoe said.

Besides the Skoe and Torkelson bills, other legislation is in the works to provide local governments with money to administer buffer programs and funds to compensate farmers for land that is being removed from crop production.

Sen. Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake, unsuccessfully tried to extend deadlines to install buffers, which begin next year, to be stretched out five years. It lost 32-25, but Skoe said he will continue to watch the issue and could propose new deadlines in future legislative sessions.

“It is better to move forward and get the grass strips on the ground,” Skoe said.

Westrom said that he would prefer to “give our farmers and landowners ample time to decide what works best for them.”

Included in the legislation is a provision allowing the state to issue penalties up to $500 for not complying with the buffer law.

Dayton has suggested extensive water quality improvement spending this year and said he was happy that the Skoe bill passed.

“More and more citizens and communities throughout Minnesota are being threatened by water that is unsafe for their drinking, washing and recreation,” Dayton said. “These water quality problems must be addressed by all of us recognizing our shared need for safe and clean water, and our by shared willingness to protect this priceless resource.”

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